The actuation of mobile surfaces of aircraft such as tails, tail stabilisers, “canards”, hoists, aerobrakes, ailerons, flaps, other wing flaps (for example “slats”) or rudders is one of the most important aspects to take into account in the overall design of aircraft since they are used as control surfaces for controlling the aircraft. For example ailerons are used to control warping, a tail stabiliser is used to control pitch and a rudder is used to control the yaw.
In that type of mobile surface there are slots between different parts. For example, in the case of a horizontal tail stabiliser there are slots at the edges of the rudder which are necessary to allow the movements made by the rudder in aircraft takeoff and landing manoeuvres. However, in cruising conditions, the rudder must normally be at rest whereby sealing said slots to avoid any increase in the aerodynamic drag created by the air flow through the slot is desirable. Any entry of air into said slot could cause undesirable turbulences which would end up forming parasitic drag which would add more load to the affected area.
In the case of the slot existing between the edge of the rudder furthest from the fuselage and the tip of the horizontal stabiliser gum profiles attached to the rudder projecting therefrom to cover the slot are used as sealing elements. However, in the known configurations, the size of said slot varies depending on the angle of deflection of the rudder, which subjects the gum profiles to a wear, forcing early replacement with the drawbacks that this entails. It must be taken into account in this respect that said gum profiles are affected by the climatological conditions typical of a normal flight which can accelerate the deterioration caused by the actual movement between elements.
The present invention seeks to solve this drawback.